“Is this newspaper a bit thick?”
“Recently, the three major newspapers in the Royal Capital featured a special on Rania. I struggled a bit to summarize it nicely.”
“Really…?”
I really like it.
Muttering to herself, Rania crossed her legs as she sat on a rock. The wind that blew tousled her hair noisily, but only for a moment. Snap, as she flicked her fingers, the blowing wind suddenly stilled.
“Then shall I read it?”
Flap, with a fluid motion, she opened the newspaper. What she held was a truly trivial newspaper filled only with phrases praising the ‘Hero, Rania’…
“Hmmm.”
Watching Rania, who was seriously perusing the newspaper while adjusting her lips, felt as if what she held was not just scraps of paper but rather documents dealing with ‘important matters.’
Swipe, swipe, rolling her eyes quickly, Rania sometimes smiled faintly and sometimes sighed in admiration, muttering to herself, “Who wrote this? I need to buy them a meal later.”
“Yes, I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Right. Be sure to find out. This person writes such beautifully crafted sentences. Especially this part. This modifier is very…”
“Do you like it?”
“I like it very much.”
The knight, Tephran, smiled wryly and nodded.
It had been quite some time since he was assigned this ridiculous task. At first, when he was chosen as the right person for this job just because he was very interested in current events, he couldn’t help but wonder what this was about, but now, Tephran felt a sense of fulfillment in this task.
After all, it was something that helped the Hero.
Looking at Rania, who slapped her forehead with a thunk while reading the newspaper, Tephran couldn’t help but smile. While Rania van Trias was treated as a noble and perfect hero by the public, the reality was quite different.
“Hey, Tephran. Look at this part. ‘Unprecedented, both before and after…’ Doesn’t that sentence just have a nice ring to it? I kind of like this.”
“I will actively reflect on that and start collecting newspapers from now on.”
“Exactly. That’s it. It’s nice to communicate so well with you.”
She was overflowing with humanity, carefree, and devoid of distance.
Much lighter than expected.
While this could come off as somewhat materialistic in trivial matters, the word ‘simple’ suited her much better than ‘materialistic.’ In any case, it meant that she had a considerable distance from the ‘noble, mysterious, and flawless hero’ depicted by the world.
‘…Of course, her achievements are real.’
Perhaps because she had seen this side of Rania often.
As Tephran collected articles about her, he sometimes felt a dissonance. The playful person in front of him was indeed that Rania van Trias.
‘The only hope of humanity, the unprecedented hero.’
There was no exaggeration in the articles Tephran had collected.
Rania van Trias truly had accomplished feats worthy of that title. A hero who expanded the front lines, which had seen little change for centuries, to faraway places. She was heading into the depths of the Phantom Territory where no one could reach.
A land lost to humanity.
A history lost to humanity.
With each step she took, humanity’s territory expanded, and traces of lost history were reclaimed. The path she walked was the history of humanity.
“I’m satisfied with this one too. Thank you, Tephran.”
The living historical figure smiled faintly as she handed the newspaper back to Tephran. Seemingly pleased with the newspaper, Rania stretched and exhaled deeply.
“Ah, right. Tephran, how about that thing I asked about last time?”
“Are you referring to the articles about your disciples?”
“Yeah, that.”
As Rania stretched, she got up from her seat.
Tephran took another newspaper out from his robe.
“I’ve prepared that too. Should I give it to you now?”
“Yes. I’ll read it while going.”
Rania flipped to the first page of the newspaper she received.
On the first page, the large letters read “Lac von Grace, the Guardian of the North.” This was not an article on Rania, but about the disciples she had raised. As Rania skimmed through the article, she couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Tephran?”
“Yes, Hero.”
“You picked a good newspaper.”
Rania tapped on the first page of the newspaper.
『The Guardian of the North, Lac von Grace.』
Just below Lac’s name was a statement written as follows.
『The great hero, Rania van Trias’s prized disciple.』
Rania smiled as she tapped on that sentence.
“I really like it.”
Tephran nodded with a proud expression. No matter what anyone says, Tephran had been collecting newspapers for Rania for quite some time. He enjoyed the overt praises directed at him, but what this somewhat gloomy Hero liked the most were the ‘subtle and indirect compliments.’
“I’m glad you liked it.”
—
『The Shadow Knight and the Hero of the Spirit, once again makes achievements on the Western Front. An apprentice hero with unparalleled growth.』
『The Ancient Dragon Mage granted the Shadow Knight, Belnoa, the title of ‘Dragonik.’ Acknowledged as worthy by the Shadow Knight.』
『The Hero of the Spirit annihilated the Necromancer’s Undead army with a ‘single’ spell on the Western Front.』
Nodding in satisfaction while discreetly checking up on the news of her disciples, Rania felt a sense of enjoyment. Listening to the achievements of her directly raised disciples was quite a joyful affair.
‘So this is how the Master felt.’
Now she understood why the Master collected newspapers. As Rania was checking each achievement of her disciples, her gaze suddenly froze. After a brief silence, Rania let out a short laugh.
“Looks like they passed the graduation exam?”
『Shadow Knight, Belnoa van Dragonik.』
『Hero of the Spirit, Chloe.』
『Successfully defeated the Ancient Lich ‘Skebal’ with the support of Hero, Destel, on the Eastern Front.』
The graduation assignment she had mentioned before.
Rania had said that if they followed the curriculum she had laid out, they would easily defeat an ‘Ancient Lich’ by the time they graduated. Now that it had become a reality, Rania honestly felt a sense of amazement.
‘Kalt wasn’t just blowing smoke.’
“You’ll be surprised when you see it in person.”
“Even I think so.”
“It’s beyond imagination, really.”
Now that the Royal Capital was stable, Kalt, who had recently organized his work with the Guarders, was set on heading into battle. Occasionally sending letters while carrying out missions with Belnoa and Chloe, he had said they would meet and he would surprise them.
Just as he had said.
In the three years, it wasn’t only Rania who had undergone many changes. Watching the trials Belnoa and Chloe had overcome, Rania clicked her tongue. Indeed, they were not walking down a smooth path but rather choosing the hardest routes.
‘…Faster than I had anticipated.’
While witnessing the rapid growth of her children and contemplating that they would soon catch up, Rania flipped through the newspaper.
‘Since I met Restia recently, let’s skip that.’
Flap.
‘The Princess must be going through the succession procedures…’
Finally arriving at the news about the disciple that occupied her mind the most, the boy who inherited the sword of Ganikalt, Lac von Grace.
“……”
The news about Lac was not just a newspaper report.
There was a confidential document containing information controlled within the Knights Order. A letter sent by the Knights Order Leader as well. The moment Rania saw the letter, her gaze narrowed. She came to a stop in her tracks.
A photo arrived along with the letter.
Rania stared at the photo for a while. Immediately, her expression hardened.
*
“Shall we get to the main topic now?”
Belnoa set down his cup with a thud.
Using mana to shake off his drunkenness, Belnoa took a letter from his robe. It bore the seal of the Knights Order Leader.
“I’ll say this in advance, Lac.”
Noticing the shift in atmosphere, Lac straightened up. The intoxication had long evaporated.
“Ten days ago, you repelled the Demon Lord’s Army rushing at Phetel Glacier, all by yourself. And you did so without leaving a single Beast behind. The world knows it like that. Isn’t that right?”
Lac narrowed his eyes.
The world claimed it was like that. That meant Belnoa must have information unknown to the public. Lac subtly asked a question.
“Did you know all of this?”
“Believe it or not, I’m one of the Hero’s companions. While we came here for various public reasons, the real reason is that we’re here to investigate the phenomena you’ve encountered.”
Belnoa sighed deeply.
“While it’s true that the Demon Lord’s Army closed in, and it’s also true that you repelled them. But that’s not where it ends, right? You tracked down the remnants and…”
“I followed the fleeing ones into the Titna Mountains. I was planning to uproot them completely.”
Lac completed Belnoa’s sentence.
“However, there was no stronghold there.”
Lac looked at the empty cup on the table.
Seeing the empty cup made him mumble.
“There was, to be precise. However, there were only traces left, all torn apart by something. Did you happen to receive that photo too?”
“…I received it.”
Belnoa tore open the letter on the table.
Thud, a single photo fell out from the letter.
The picture depicted the ruined scenery of a forest. Trees ripped from their roots and scattered everywhere. The Demon Lord’s Army savaged by something. Bloodstains everywhere and corpses haphazardly hanging on fallen trees. It looked as if a gigantic predator had clawed its way through.
Pointing at the photo, Lac said.
“The old warriors who have lived in the North for decades declared there’s no beast capable of such a feat. Scholars also stated there are no beasts that leave such traces in the North.”
“The Knights Order reached the same conclusion. There is no beast that leaves behind such strange traces. This alone is already a significant problem, but…”
That alone was enough to signal a problem.
It could mean the emergence of a special beast. However, there was another reason why the Knights Order urgently sent Belnoa and Chloe.
“Your remarks to the knights who came to verify the area and the letter you sent to the Knights Order Leader.”
Belnoa spoke in a low voice.
“Do you think this was done by a Beast?”
“Correct.”
Lac nodded.
“The traces engraved at the scene were not mere scratches. Those were…”
As both a warrior and a knight, he spoke.
“Blade marks.”
Nobody would think of them as blade marks.
But Lac was well aware of those marks. There was no way he couldn’t be. The claw-like traces were rough, but they shared the essence of his own technique.
Ganikalt van Galatrick.
In a distant past, the great swordsman had created a lineage of swordsmanship. Since he had learned the sword techniques that derived from that lineage, Lac was certain. The traces he had seen in the mountains were infused with Ganikalt’s sword.
However…
“But something felt off.”
“What felt off?”
“Although they shared the same essence, it did not feel like the work of a human. It was crude and chaotic… and also fierce. As if it were swung according to instinct.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
Lac rubbed his chin as he spoke.
“It felt like a Beast, not human, was imitating and swinging a human sword.”
